The challenge
Barrett Distribution runs on teamwork. As a third-party logistics (3PL) provider managing complex operations for its clients, the company depends on teams working in sync to resolve customer requests quickly. Before 2023, that coordination had no real home. Team members pieced together communication across Microsoft Teams, Zoom Chat and email, with no single channel built for cross-functional work. That meant constant switching between messaging tools and the customer care system, with every switch adding friction. Case resolution slowed down, and the tools meant to support collaboration instead got in its way.
Barrett Distribution set out to change that by moving onto Slack and putting the platform's collaboration features to full use. The goals were clear: make Slack the scalable channel for cross-team work, drive real adoption through strong change management, build a simple process for submitting IT and nonconformity report (NCR) cases directly in Slack and automate case handling so Slack and Service Cloud stayed in sync.
The TELUS Digital solution
TELUS Digital helped Barrett Distribution establish Slack as its primary collaboration platform, backed by workflow automation and hands-on change management to help teams adopt it.
The team migrated case submission out of a Salesforce Screen Flow and into a Slack Form Workflow, so that team members could open, update and track cases without leaving Slack. A Slack Canvas gave users one place to select and interact with every case type, with mappings configured between Slack and Service Cloud so that records, updates and notifications stayed in sync across both systems automatically.
Alongside the technical build, TELUS Digital ran targeted Slack communications to build internal support for the change, delivered a business process plan outlining clear steps and expectations for case submission, and followed with a reinforcement plan to keep adoption strong after go-live. The team also put a governance plan in place to keep the new workflow secure and compliant.
The results
With Slack established as the collaboration backbone and case management running through automated workflows, Barrett Distribution now operates with an unprecedented level of cross-team coordination.
- Slack is now solidified as the company's dedicated collaboration platform.
- Cross-functional teamwork runs more efficiently, without the tool-switching that previously slowed case resolution.
- Strong user adoption is driving a return on the company's Slack and Service Cloud investment.
